SA SCIENTISTS: NO NEED TO PANIC OVER NEW COVID-19 SUBVARIANT
CAPE TOWN - Health experts have cautioned South Africans that it is too early to panic over the new COVID-19 Omicron subvariant, dubbed "Kraken".
Virus rendering. Picture: Pixabay.
Tamika Gounden | 10 January 2023 07:55
p>Health Minister Joe Phaahla was expected to provide an update on Tuesday on the COVID-19 situation in the country."The ministry will use this opportunity to respond to a number of topical issues, including the discovery of a new variant called XBB.1.5, which has dominated the media space and also created public panic in the past few days," said health department spokesperson Foster Mohale.
So far, the so-called Kraken variant - not it's scientific name - has been confirmed in 28 countries.
The World Health Organization said it was the most transmissible subvariant to date.
But local professor Tulio de Oliveria, from the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and sequencing platform - or Krisp - is of the view that the new variant will not cause much of a disruption to South Africa.
He said we had achieved a high population immunity.
News date: 2023-01-10
Links:
https://ewn.co.za/2023/01/10/sa-scientists-no-need-to-panic-over-new-covid-19-subvariant
